Our Aliyah Chronicle
By Shmuel Katz
I’ve said it before. I am really glad that Bibi Netanyahu is, nominally, on my side. As a person who leans to the right on most issues, the current coalition includes the party I voted for and is led by a politician whose crafty ability to stay in power is simply incredible. Should the current government stay in office through its full term (a possibility that seems more likely today than at any time since the last elections), and the Likud (under his leadership) forms the next government, he will–on July 4, 2019–pass David Ben-Gurion as the person who has served as prime minister for the longest cumulative time. In mid-November of this year, his current term will become the longest consecutive term as prime minister.
I generally try to avoid talking about politics unless it is election time. Things change so quickly here that there is no point commenting about developments on a regular basis; that’s not the focus of this column. Yet every once in a while somebody does something so noteworthy that I can’t ignore it.
For those who don’t pay much attention to the political landscape here, a couple of major stories happened at the end of last week and continued into this week. The architect of all the maneuvering was our prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, and while the long-term results are yet to be seen, every political move he made in the last ten days has been golden.
Keeping the job of foreign minister vacant as an enticement, he has, since the last elections, been wooing the Labor Party and its head, Isaac Herzog, in the hope that they would join a national-unity government and thus strengthen his government’s narrow one-vote majority in the Knesset. Herzog has repeatedly and publicly rebuffed the continued overtures.
He has also been wooing the Yisrael Beitenu Party and its leader, Avigdor Lieberman, for the same purpose, but to a much lesser extent. As a right-wing party, they are a more natural fit for the current government. Yet Lieberman, whose party was partnered with Netanyahu’s Likud in the last government (and a coalition member in the prior government) had decided to sit in the opposition because he felt that his party’s issues were not being addressed.
While this was going on, Netanyahu and Defense Minister (and Likud MK) Moshe “Bogie” Yaalon engaged in a very public dispute about the role of the army and its soldiers. Up for debate was Yaalon’s support of the decision to prosecute a soldier who is currently standing trial for shooting a terrorist who appeared to have been disabled but may have been hiding explosives under his clothing in an attempt to blow himself up along with some soldiers. MKs from other parties also criticized Yaalon for his stance as well.
Yaalon–seen by many as a rising star in the Likud–and Netanyahu met a couple of weeks ago to work things out. Reports seemed to say that while they aren’t best buddies, they had come to an understanding and agreed to continue to work together. Then, last week, Bibi–who seems to really hate any rising star in the Likud–made his move.
He made serious and significant offers to entice Labor into the government. And Herzog seemed to be considering the offer. This led his chief rival in the party, Shelly Yachimovich (among others), to begin attacking him for even thinking about it. Repeatedly and vehemently.
Then, in a brilliant political move, Netanyahu held secret discussions with Lieberman and made a significant enough offer to entice him to lead his party into the government. But–and here is the brilliance–instead of offering Lieberman his old job as foreign minister (the very job he had been holding as an enticement), he instead gave Lieberman the job of defense minister, and offered Yaalon to move to the foreign ministry. The coalition went from 61 votes to 67 votes, strengthening the government.
And the dominoes all fell.
Yaalon, insulted by the firing and his treatment, not only left the defense ministry, he also resigned from the Knesset. (Many Israelis believe that Netanyahu fired him outright and the resignation was just a face-saving gesture.) Herzog, reacting to both the switch to Lieberman’s party and Yachimovich’s blistering attacks, returned fire. The rhetoric being exchanged by him and Yachimovich continues to flow daily as they try to score points off each other in order to seize control of the party.
How much better can it get for Bibi? The leadership of the party leading the opposition are cutting themselves to ribbons. He strengthened his coalition and thus probably extended the time until the next elections. A major party rival has been eliminated (for the short term).
The guy is a survivor. And whether or not you think he is a good prime minister, you have to respect his political acumen in surviving at the top for so long. v
Shmuel Katz is the executive director of Yeshivat Migdal HaTorah (www.migdalhatorah.org), a new gap-year yeshiva. Shmuel, his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July of 2006. Before making aliyah, he was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmu@migdalhatorah.org.
